Paris riots: Cops fire tear gas at Yellow Vest protesters0:41

French President Emmanuel Macron led a crisis meeting after a day of riots in Paris by anti-government protesters left hundreds injured nationwide and widespread destruction around the capital.

December 2nd 2018

4 months ago

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A police car burns after clashes between police and protesters, in Marseille, southern France. Picture: APSource:AP

The French government has caved in after the worst riots in decades and delayed an increase in energy taxes in response — but it was seen as “too little, too late” by many protesters whose anger seems increasingly focused on embattled President Emmanuel Macron.

A police car burns after clashes between police and protesters, in Marseille, southern France. Picture: APSource:AP

France's President Emmanuel Macron, delivering a press conference on the second day of the G20 Leader's Summit, in Buenos Aires, on December 1 as riots raged in France. Picture: APSource:AFP

‘MACRON DICTATOR’

Demonstrators were back in the streets wearing their signature yellow vests. They blocked several fuel depots and, on a highway near the southern city of Aubagne, commandeered a toll booth to let motorists pass for free near a sign reading “Macron dictator.”

A demonstrator wearing a yellow vest painfully walks on a motorway as protesters open the toll gates near Aix-en-Provence, southeastern France. Picture: APSource:AP

The protests began on November 17 with motorists upset over the fuel tax increase, but have grown to encompass a range of complaints — the stagnant economy, social injustice and France’s tax system, one of the highest in Europe — and some now call for the government to resign.

Last weekend, more than 130 people were injured and 412 arrested in rioting in the French capital.

Shops were looted and cars torched in plush neighbourhoods around the famed Champs-Elysees Avenue. The Arc de Triomphe was sprayed with graffiti and vandalised.

Four people have been killed, officials said, and more protests are planned for this weekend.

One unifying complaint among the leaderless protesters, who come from across the political and social spectrum, has been the anger at Mr Macron and the perceived elitism of France’s aloof ruling class.

A demonstrator kicks a teargas canister away during clashes with police in Marseille. Picture: APSource:AP

Demonstrators clash with police in Marseille. Picture: APSource:AP

PRESIDENT IN HIDING

Since returning from the G20 summit in Argentina, Mr Macron has either remained in his palace residence or else shied away from speaking publicly about the protests that have created his biggest political crisis since taking office last May.

A demonstrator walks past a burning barricade near the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Elysees avenue during a demonstration. Picture: APSource:AP

A demonstrator stands in front of a makeshift barricade set up by the so-called yellow jackets to block the entrance of a fuel depot in Le Mans, western France. Picture: APSource:AP

The President did finally tweet about the riots saying there was no justification for the violence experienced on the weekend. He also said he shared in the sadness in the aftermath.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron sit alongside key world leaders including Australian Governor-General Peter Cosgrove during commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the Novevmber 11, 1918, armistice, which ended World War I. Picture: APSource:AP

Avenues leading to the Arc de Triomphe are pictured from the top of the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Elysees avenue during a demonstration. Picture: APSource:AP

It was Prime Minister Edouard Philippe who announced a six-month delay in the fuel tax increase that was to have begun in January. Just three weeks ago, Mr Philippe had insisted the government would be steadfast in the tax plans aimed at weaning French consumers off fossil fuels. He also announced a freeze in electricity and natural gas prices until May.

“No tax is worth putting the nation’s unity in danger,” Mr Philippe said in a live televised address.

Damien Abad, a politician from the centre-right Les Republicains party, also called it “too little, too late.”

“If your only response, Mr. Prime Minister, is the suspension of Macron’s fuel taxes, then you still haven’t realised the gravity of the situation,” Mr Abad said.

“What we are asking of you Mr Prime Minister, is not a postponement. It’s a change of course.”

A TRADITION OF PROTESTS

Protest and street violence has been a central part of France’s political culture — from the Revolution in the late 1700s to the student riots in 1968 — and the yellow vest movement reflects this tradition.

Demonstrators in Marseille, southern France. Picture: APSource:AP

In the port city of Marseille, students clashed with police outside a high school — one of about 100 high schools around France that were blocked or otherwise disrupted by student protests, according to the Education Ministry.

A graffiti reading "The people want the fall of systems" on a wall in the Tuileries garden in Paris. Picture: APSource:AP

Many are protesting a new university application system.

Mr Philippe held crisis talks with representatives of major political parties on Monday, and met with Mr Macron, who cancelled a two-day trip to Serbia. “This violence must end,” Mr Philippe said.

Demonstrators stand in front of a makeshift barricade set up by the so-called yellow jackets to block the entrance of a fuel depot in Le Mans, western France. Picture: APSource:AP

French far-right leader Marine le Pen listens to French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe at the National Assembly. Picture: APSource:AP

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen tweeted that the delay in price increases was “obviously not up to the expectations of the French people struggling with precariousness,” and noted sarcastically that it is “surely a coincidence” that the rise in prices will take effect a few days after European Union elections.